Abstract: (from the chapter) The innovative use of mass media as a strategy to promote public health has received considerable attention in recent years. This exploratory study introduced Spanishlanguage media into the larger discussion on the agenda setting theory of news media. The data presented here are the Spanish subset of a study whose purpose was to establish an empirical base for how youth and violence are portrayed on local televisionnews in California, with the intent that the study findings be applied to violence prevention efforts. This chapter will describe the intersection of three areas: Latinos, violence, and Spanishlanguagetelevisionnews media. It will compare Spanish and English portrayals of youth and violence, and will draw conclusions based on the context of Spanishlanguagetelevision and application to violence prevention efforts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2004 APA, all rights reserved)